


Night Owl

by candyorangeslice



Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies)
Genre: Fluff, I'll add characters and tags as I go, I'm making this up as I go along lol, Mutual Pining, Other, Reader is gender neutral, Slow Burn, Takes place after Incredibles 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 08:30:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15481752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candyorangeslice/pseuds/candyorangeslice
Summary: Moving to a new city can be tough, but it helps if you have good friends with you. Luckily, Screech decides he wants to be your friend, and you couldn't be more excited.





	1. A Walk in the Park

**Author's Note:**

> How is there only one other fic on here with Screech in it, and it's not even about him? Unforgivable. So I'm giving all of you what you really need, which is Screech x Reader. I don't really have a plan for this fic, I'm just writing what comes to me. It's just for fun! If other people like it too, then hey, that's just a bonus! :) This is my first fic in years, please be nice LOL
> 
> This story will never have any nsfw. If I ever work up the courage to even write nsfw, it'll be posted separately as oneshots lol. It might have canon-typical violence at some point, but I'll add that tag when we get there. 
> 
> Feel free to leave suggestions if there's anything you want to see here in the future!

The park at this time of year really is beautiful. There are many simple pleasures in life, and there isn't much more simple than a nice walk in the park. It wasn't too hot out, it wasn't too cold out, it was simply perfect. A gentle breeze ruffled your hair. Flowers were blooming, and there weren't too many bugs out. It really is quite perfect, you think to yourself.

The park had a long, winding path through a wooded area, which is where you were walking now. The path circled around a small lake, which shone in the afternoon light. The thick canopy of trees above you let only a subtle amount of dappled sunlight through to the ground. Along the path, there were many types of trees and flowers, all very nicely maintained. The city must have a pretty big budget, you think to yourself, if the park looks this nice. It was nothing at all like where you grew up.

You had only recently moved to the city, so you often found yourself overwhelmed by the busy big city life, and you had quickly realized you missed the simple life from the town you grew up in. It was quite a culture shock to you. This city had a pretty high crime rate, but it was balanced out by the fact that the city was always patrolled by superheroes. Now that was something different from living in a small town! Before moving here, you had only seen a superhero once, at a convention. And you hadn't even really gotten to see them, they had just been presenting and you were in the audience. That was a couple months ago by now, so it would've been pretty soon after superheroes were re-legalized. But here, why, you basically see a superhero every time you step outside! You never knew there had been so many in hiding, until they were all able to come out of hiding.

You won't deny that it's made life interesting, however. The other day you were just down the street from a huge fight between several supers and villains! You never would've dreamed of experiencing that in your home town. It did make you a little nervous with all the fights going on all the time, but you knew supers would be there to protect others, and to protect you. Still, it would make you feel better to know nothing bad would happen to you specifically. You suppose it's good that you didn't have any connections to the supers' life.

As you walked down the path, you stepped to the side to get a closer look at some flowers. There were some cute yellow flowers coming up in a neat little line along the path. The breeze gently swayed them back and forth. You took a moment to think about what kind of flower they were, but quickly decided to give up on it. You were never really good at identifying flowers, but they were yellow, and they were pretty, that was good enough for you. 

"Those are lilies," you jumped as someone behind you stated matter-of-factly. You hadn't even known there was anyone else on the path with you. You must've been looking at those flowers for longer than you'd thought. "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" You turned around to face the source of the voice. A shorter man stood there, with a stocky build, and deep reddish hair brushed back. He looked a little embarrassed, and glanced down. "Sorry, I just find flowers quite interesting, I apologize for-"

"No, no, it's okay!" You cut him off, "You just surprised me is all!" He brightened up a little at your words, but still looked embarrassed, and looked away. Sparing him from your gaze, you looked back at the flowers again. "So these are lilies, then?" you asked him kindly. You could hear him step closer, to your side.

"Yes, these are lilies here," he pointed at the yellow flowers, then pointed to the red flowers a few bushes over. "Those are peonies down there. I saw some asters earlier too." He quickly started describing them, and told you how to tell different flowers apart. He looked pretty happy that you were letting him talk about the flowers.

"How do you know so much about flowers? Sometimes I can't even tell roses from carnations!" you laughed. He smiled at your joke, although it wasn't really a joke.

"Ah, I just find them interesting, so I study them in my spare time," he started, "Not that I have much spare time!" he chuckled lightly. "I'm no expert by any means, but I like to think I have a pretty good knowledge of them." He picked one of the lilies and examined it. "Of course, I mostly just find them pretty." He handed the lily to you and smiled, "So, what's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, my name is Y/N," you replied as you grabbed the lily from his hand. "What's yours?"

"My name is Edward, it is a pleasure to meet you." He cleared his throat subtly and asked, shifting slightly, "So, uh, do you live around here, or are you just visiting?"

"I just moved here a couple months ago," you quickly answered as his eyes lit up, "I'm still getting used to the area. This park reminds me of my hometown so I like to come here often." Edward looked a little sad for a moment, and glanced down towards the ground.

"Ah, I know how it can be to miss your hometown. I, too, am a long way from home." A smile returned to his face. "Although, in my experience, the longer you're here, the more it will start to feel like home!" You smiled back at him. "I actually grew up in England, and when I was younger, we moved to America, to the east coast. And now that I live here on the west coast, I'm far from both places I had considered home." His eyes had a sad look to them for just a moment. "Sometimes it's hard to move away from those you consider family, but you'll find new family anywhere you go. New friends who help you get through hard times," he said as a smile returned to his face once again. "I don't regret moving here, and I hope you don't either. This really is a nice place to live."

"Thank you," you said quietly, "it really means a lot. I still haven't really made any new friends since I moved here a couple months ago." Edward tilted his head at you.

"Well then," he replied, "perhaps I can be your first friend here?" A big smile crossed his face as you nodded.

"I would love that, Edward. I'd love to get to know you; you seem like a great guy!" you smiled as you noticed it was starting to get dark out. Edward must've just noticed as well, "Oh goodness it's getting late, I need to be heading to work. Night shift, you know how it is," he chuckled. "Well, I do hope I get to see you around sometime, Y/N. I know a great coffee place right by here. Maybe we can meet there tomorrow, at, say, 8?" You nodded in agreement, and he grabbed your hand and gently kissed the back of it. "Until we meet again," he murmured sweetly, causing you to blush.

"Oh, uh, have a nice night!" You waved at him as he started to walk away. He definitely caught you off guard with that hand kiss, but you found yourself looking forward to meeting this kind gentleman again soon. You look down at the lily in your other hand. You look back up, and Edward is nowhere to be seen. How did he disappear so quickly? You start to head back to your apartment, hoping to get back home before it gets too dark out. 

\----------

You take out your keys and unlock the door to your apartment, shutting it behind you. You place the lily on the table and head for your room. After a few minutes, you've changed into comfortable clothes and are sitting on the couch watching TV. The TV was the only source of light in the room, lights flickering against the walls as you zoned out. The channel was set to some mindless reality drama, but you weren't really paying any attention to it. Your mind kept drifting back to Edward.

He had seemed so kind and sweet, like an absolute gentleman. Your heart raced you thought about meeting him again tomorrow. Not like a date or anything, no, just to get to know him better... unless he considered it a date himself. You felt your heart skip a beat for a moment as you sat there thinking. Although, you were pretty sure he wouldn't be interested in you like that; a man as great as he seemed to be was probably already taken. But even if you couldn't date him, you still really wanted to be his friend. It's always been hard for you to make new friends in new places, so you weren't going to pass up this opportunity. And maybe he could introduce you to his other friends as well. You'd have to wait and see.

While lost in thought, you started flipping through the channels. For a split second you thought you saw Edward on the screen, so you flipped back to that channel. You quickly realized that wasn't him, though, this was a news report about superheroes. Your tired mind must be playing tricks on you, especially since he was on your mind anyway.

But you're still interested in superheroes, so you watch the newscast anyway. It looks like a report on all the new supers that have come into the spotlight since the ban had been lifted; right now they're talking about the original group that worked with DevTech to make supers legal again. They mention the three glory days supers that came back: Elastigirl, Frozone, and Mr. Incredible, as well as some entirely new supers. 

The news report shows each of them with their names. It's unclear to everyone if the six of them will work as a single team, or if they might split up now that their initial mission from DevTech is complete, but it seems like the leader of them is a lithe girl who goes by the name of Voyd. Her bright blue hair stands out, and you almost wonder how she isn't recognized in her secret identity with hair like that. The report says she can generate portals, which to you, sounds really cool. It shows Brick next, who is a large blonde girl, whose superhero theme seems to be...bricks. Not sure what you were expecting there. She seems to be really strong though. Then there's Krushauer, who is also very stocky, though not quite as tall as Brick. He can crush things telekinetically, but as far as anyone can tell, that's the extent of his powers, and he can't use his telekinesis for anything else. He-Lectrix is tall and skinny, with electrical theme and powers. Reflux is an older super, and he has lava spitting powers, which, you admit to yourself, would be really cool if he didn't theme it around acid reflux. The last one the report shows is Screech.

The newscaster says not much is known about the owl themed superhero, so much is left up to viewer speculation. He has told the press before that he built his wings, but can fly naturally without them. He can turn his head all the way around, and his screeches can shatter glass with ease. He mostly works at night, so he is never seen during the day. Even those with top secret access to supers' files have admitted they don't even have the secret identity names of some supers, and Screech is one of them. He lives a very secretive, hidden life away from his hero work. Who can blame him? If you were a superhero, you wouldn't want people to know your real name, your friends, your family. You figure it's probably for the best that he doesn't have much information about himself out there. 

The news report changes topics as you feels your eyelids begin to get heavy. Glancing at the clock, you see it's getting close to midnight. You realize you'll have to wake up earlier than you usually do to meet with Edward, so you should probably get to sleep pretty soon. With a small, tired sigh, you get up off the couch, and walk down the hall to your room.


	2. Late Night Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Screech banters with his dear friend, Voyd.

The streets were dark and the night was quiet. He sat on a rooftop in his super suit, flexing his wings. It was not a busy night, with almost no crime to fight, so he was left sitting alone with only his thoughts. As his mind wandered, he started to think of Y/N. 

Earlier that day, he had been walking through the park, just trying to help pass the time until nightfall for his hero work shift to start, when he came upon them. Y/N had been looking at flowers, wearing a contemplative face, as if trying to think of what kind of flower they were looking at. He immediately noticed how cute they looked, and decided to shyly approach them. 

He had tried to make conversation, but he forgot how quiet and sneaky he can be sometimes and accidentally startled them. When he realized he scared them, he only felt dread; there he was trying to make a good first impression, and he scares them. How do you recover from that? Who knows why they continued to talk to him? 

They mentioned to him that they were new to the area. He had felt a glimmer of hope in his heart when he heard they hadn't yet made any new friends here. Maybe he would be able to be their friend? And if that worked, he could try to introduce them to his colleagues, the other "wannabe" superheroes, who were all pretty good friends with each other, even when not doing hero work. After all, they all shared the traumatic experience of, well, the entirety of the ship at DevTech. He also knew how it felt to have no one in a new place, and he wanted to help this cute stranger, hopefully-soon-to-be-friend. 

Nothing good ever seems to last, though, and he noticed the sun was starting to set. Time to go to work. For the first time since superheroes were legalized, he felt he didn't really want to do hero work tonight; he would rather keep talking to Y/N. Acting on impulse, he suggested they meet up again, when he has more time to chat. For some reason, they agreed, and he quickly disappeared from their sight. He ran off to get changed into his super suit, ready for any crime to happen in this area.

It had been a couple hours since then by this point, and it was dreadfully slow tonight. At this point, he wouldn't even mind settling for apprehending a simple robber, because at least it would be something to do besides just sitting here, alone with his thoughts. The night seemed to drag on forever; it must only be about midnight right now.

From somewhere behind him, he suddenly heard an odd whoosh sound, but he immediately knew who it was. Without even looking behind him, he called out.

"What brings you here tonight, Miss Voyd? Surely you didn't come all this way just to keep me company," he smirked. Sometimes she seemed like a younger sister to him, or even like a daughter. She often came to him for advice, but he found that he didn't mind; he was always happy to help her with anything she needed.

"Hey, actually, this time, I really do just want to keep you company, Screech. You're my favorite friend!" He heard her chuckle from behind him, "Of course, it also helps that there's nothing going on in my area either tonight." He turned his head all the way around and watched her approach. "I mean, unless you don't want the company?" she smiled at him.

"Oh sure, I want the company, but, from you...?" he joked, as he waved his hand in a noncommittal gesture. She playfully whacked his shoulder as she sat down next to him. "Hey wait, how do you know there's nothing going on in my area?"

"Because you're just sitting here, doing nothing as usual," she laughed. She always liked to mess with him. "Anyway, what were you thinking about? You seemed pretty lost in thought when I showed up," she wondered out loud.

"Oh, you know," he sighed, "I bumped into this cute stranger today and I can't stop thinking about them for some reason. It's weird."

"That is weird... do you have a crush on them?"

"I don't know. Maybe?" he huffed. "I never let myself have crushes in the past because of, you know..." he gestured to himself and to Voyd, referring to their superpowers. "Being illegal, I wouldn't have wanted to ever burden a partner with keeping me a secret from everyone. But now that we're allowed, encouraged even, to be out in public again, I don't know, maybe it's kinda opened up my feelings a bit."

"Oh, so you're saying your heart isn't all dried and shriveled up after years of not using it?" she couldn't resist joking to him.

"Hey, watch it," he smiled at her, then looked down and sighed. "They just seemed so nice, and sweet, and... genuine. Very unlike the reactions you get from people when you're in a super suit, and suddenly everyone wants you. Y/N didn't know me as a super, but still seemed interested in me. I can't remember the last time that's happened!" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "If I'm being honest, this is a bit confusing for me. I haven't felt anything like this in years. Your jokes aside, I really didn't know if I ever would get crushes again. Or if I would ever fall in love. I'm in unfamiliar territory, here." He laughed nervously and glanced up to her.

"Trust me, Screech, I'm in the same boat as you." She offered a small smile to him. "I didn't ever think we'd be able to do this, yknow, being out in the limelight like this. A year ago I was keeping my powers a secret from my own relatives; now if I put on the suit and go into public and do this," she created a portal in front of them to demonstrate, "suddenly everyone loves me. I've gotten in so much trouble over the years with these powers, but suddenly they're not only accepted, we're being told to use them." A small sigh escaped her lips. "We're so unprepared for this. We never had the chance to learn how to balance our normal lives, and our hero lives." She looked up at him. "I don't think any of us really know what we're doing." 

"I wonder what stage of a relationship you tell someone you're a super..." he tilted his head in thought. 

"Screech, I'm pretty sure if you're gonna tell someone you're a super, it's gonna have to be, like, right before marriage or something," she laughed, "It's a pretty serious matter, you have to really trust someone first." 

"Yes yes, I'm aware. I'm just curious, is all. How long do you think it took Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl to show each other their secret identities?" he wondered out loud. Voyd laughed again.

"Probably a lot longer than it took us to; all of us from DevTech got so close, so fast, after the whole... Evelyn thing." Screech shuddered at the memory, and the lack of memories from when they were all hypnotized. "The glory days supers had all the time in the world to build their relationships, but we were all thrust into chaos so quickly. We needed to have friends with similar experiences, especially after so long of feeling... alone." She gave him a hopeful smile.

"I think you're right about that," he mused. "How did you get to be so wise at your age?" He smiled at her and tilted his head.

"Maybe it's because I have you for a mentor, and you know, they do say that owls are wise!" She gave him a quick but loving hug, and then looked back over to the city. "So, what about that cute stranger? How did that turn out?"

"Oh! Yes, I met them just before nightfall, so right before I left I offered to meet them at a nearby coffee shop tomorrow morning," he beamed.

"Tomorrow morning? You're not gonna sleep at all before you meet them?" Voyd cocked her head in disbelief.

"Yes, well, I wanted it to be convenient for them, and I think most normal people do things in the morning, yes?"

"I sure don't! I don't even wake up til like... 10, on most days," she chuckled. "That's the main reason why I take the afternoon shift; so I don't have to wake up early!" She opened a portal to her house to look at a clock on her wall. "Speaking of which, my shift is almost over. You gonna be okay by yourself?" She stood up and looked down at him.

"Miss Voyd, if I've spent this long being alone, a few more hours alone won't kill me," he smiled up at her. 

"Alright, well, there's no need to be dramatic," she laughed. "Let me know how your date goes!" Before he could reply, she stepped into the portal leading to her house, and once she closed it there was nothing but silence. Screech blinked slowly.

"It's not a date... is it?" Suddenly he started to feel nervous again, and his thoughts lingered on Y/N. Did they consider it a date too? He didn't even think of that. He would actually love to call it a date, but he didn't want to set himself up for disappointment, in case they didn't feel the same way. He shifted anxiously, and hoped the night wouldn't pass too slowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not as long as I would've liked, but oh well. :) This chapter is supposed to show off how close and friendly the wannabe supers are, especially after the events of the movie. Hopefully it does that!


End file.
